Dear Mrs/Mr. President:

Our nation seems to be a place where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Most Americans work hard to make money, and earn enough just to get by. There is a small group of individuals in our country who are often referred to as the 1 percenters, meaning their population makes up for 1% of America’s total population, but they are in control 35% of our nation's total wealth, with the next 4% controlling the next 28%. I have a very hard time accepting this, how can these money hungry 1 percenters have all this money and just sit back and watch the rest of our nation struggle to make ends meat. I do not understand how we have such huge wealth inequality in our country and accept it.

Everyone has to pay income tax, and the more money you make the higher your tax rate. Some American corporations and billionaires have found ways to cut their high rates, which is unfair to Americans and other companies that pay their fair share of taxes. Corporate income tax makes up for 10.6% of the total tax revenue, while individual income tax accounts for 47.4%. It should be the other way around, these companies make thousands even millions of dollars more than the average american individual, meaning they should be contributing a higher tax rate than the average individual. Unfortunately this is not the case, some of these rich corporations are stashing billions of dollars worth of funds offshore. Meaning they are either hiding money, or they are moving money to a country with a lower tax rate. For instance, Apple has a very low tax rate compared to the average top marginal corporate income tax at 38.92%, Apple’s rate was at 12.6% in 2014. 12.6% is an extremely low rate for a company that brings in so much money. This is made possible because Apple has 70% of their profits allocated overseas along with $54.4 billion in earnings in countries with lower tax rates. Apple is designed and was founded in America, but manufactures its products in China, and stashes money in other countries just to lower their taxes. Apple became a well-known successful business in America, but gives their tax money to other countries, this is corrupt.

When big corporations like Apple merge with foreign firms they not only pay less tax in America, they are also taking away American jobs. Which is a great investment for a company because these countries offer lower tax rates along with lower employment wages, but it ends up affecting America tremendously. I blame companies like Apple for America's struggle with unemployment and debt. Take a look around, it seems like every material good we have is “made in China.” No wonder there is such a big drop of employment in the manufacturing field in our country. China has a low minimum wage and American companies have really been taking advantage of this since the turn of the century. Between 2001 and 2013, the expanded trade deficit with China costed the United States 3.2 million jobs, around 75% of these jobs were in manufacturing. China does not benefit from these jobs because the workers that take these new jobs have very low wages that average less than $1 an hour, with 40-70 hour work weeks. Basically these companies are moving operations to countries like China to take advantage of the cheap labor that American workers would never do, which is the closest thing to modern day slavery. This is not fair either way you look at it because both countries take a loss, while the corporations keep gaining money and power.

These scandalous corporations are the main cause for America’s recent economic decline. Too many companies become successful in America and then leave the country in order to make a better profit, we can no longer have this happen. Big corporations can no longer be in control of so much money. If we want to change this we have to come together with countries with low tax rates like Ireland and low wage countries like China to make a deal that will call for an equal share in the taxes that the company gives to each country, along with comparable minimum wages, so that these companies can no longer take advantage of everyone. These corporations need to start sharing the wealth. I realize that all countries are different, but the world would be a better place if we work together and try to make the world more equal, with comparable tax rates and comparable minimum wage we wouldn’t be so different from each other after all.

Sincerely, Tobin S.